Conservation and Design

Two historic garden case studies

Robert Grant

Nearly 80 years after its establishment,
the National Trust for Scotland
(NTS) is responsible for many of the
country’s most important historic buildings,
collections, gardens and wild habitats. Seventy
of the trust’s 128 properties include large or
small gardens, 35 of which constitute major
gardens and designed landscapes. They
surround the great landed Scottish castles and
country houses held in trust for the nation.

NTS first became involved in garden
conservation a year after its founding in
1931. With the financial support of its first
legacy, the trust purchased Culross Palace
in the Royal Burgh of Culross (pronounced
Cooross), Fife. Overlooking the Firth of Forth,
it is not really a palace at all but earned its
name because it was the grandest dwelling in
the village at the time of its construction in
the late 16th century. The trust’s engagement
with this property was, however, short-lived.
The trust was then unable to care for it and
the property was passed into the guardianship
of the Ministry of Works (now Historic
Scotland), which managed the building and
its adjacent garden for the next 60 years.

It wasn’t until 1945 that the trust looked
at gardens again when the 5th Marquess of
Ailsa and the Kennedy family gifted Culzean
Castle (pronounced Cullain) to the trust.
The castle stands on the Ayrshire coast and
has 146ha (350 acres) of picturesque gardens
and designed landscape. That same year
the Hon Mrs Henrietta Leith-Hay gifted
Leith Hall, Aberdeenshire to the trust,
including its Arts and Crafts style garden,
which she and her husband had created
in the early years of the 20th century.

By the mid 1950s NTS had acquired
11 garden properties which, while managed
on a day-to-day basis by garden staff, were
overseen by a gardens adviser whose role it
was to ensure holistic management across
the developing portfolio and to agree on
appropriate forms of garden conservation.

Bequeaths and acquisitions continued to
grow, and with a collection of major gardens
and designed landscapes now standing at 35,
the trust has established a dedicated team
of gardens advisers. The team is led by the
head of gardens and designed landscapes
whose responsibility it is to help research and
understand the significance of the gardens
in a local, regional and national context
and to develop conservation management
plans guided by detailed survey and
analysis in line with the trust’s conservation
principles. The process of evaluation has
evolved since the 1950s in tandem with
a developing national interest in garden
history and a wider appreciation of the
potential loss of horticultural heritage.

The trust made a sterling effort in the early
1950s to research, understand and evaluate
contemporary schemes for the newly acquired
Pitmedden Garden in Aberdeenshire, where the
great double-walled garden with its ogee-roofed
pavilions was recognised as being of national
significance. While the estate records that might
have shown the original 17th-century layout
were lost in a fire of 1828, a new parterre
garden was created by the trust based on
contemporary designs of the gardens at the
Palace of Holyrood House in Edinburgh dating
from 1647. Today the iconic Scottish garden
at Pitmedden is internationally respected and
represents an outstanding example of a 1950s
interpretation of a 17th-century garden design.

Despite relative successes in understanding
and valuing garden heritage in its early days
of garden management, the trust failed to
recognise the significance and cultural value
of other important landscape features that
have since been lost. Acknowledging this
as a significant factor in the organisation’s
garden management process, a much more
comprehensive system for garden study,
evaluation and management planning
now exists. This includes archaeological
investigation, building survey, contour and
tree mapping, together with a more rigorous
evaluation leading to statements of significance.

CULROSS PALACE

The model 17th-century garden at Culross Palace

Culross Palace and garden were re-acquired
by the trust in 1991. A three-year garden
restoration programme followed, which
converted a simple amenity site into Scotland’s
most authentic model 17th-century garden.
The village of Culross dates back to the 6th
century when it was an important religious
centre. The monks were the first coal-miners
in the area and over many centuries the
mining industry thrived here. Ships carried
coal and salt to Scandinavia and the Low
Countries, often returning with ballasts of
red pan-tiles, which are today a distinctive
feature of the village. This exchange probably
brought more than roof coverings: ideas about
gardening and other cultural pursuits must
have crossed the North Sea with them.

The early history of gardening is poorly
documented: the first Scottish gardening book, The Scots Gard’ner, was not published
until 1683. Gardening, as we know it today,
was apparently rarely practised in Scotland
except by royalty, the monasteries and the very
wealthy prior to the accession of King James
VI (later King James I of England) in 1587.
The only vegetable known to have been widely
grown in Scotland was colewort or kale, with
onions, peas and beans being rarely grown by
the general population until the end of the 17th
century. Fruit was equally neglected, except in
monastic establishments: Dene Matho Tachet of
Culross Abbey is recorded as selling 15 ‘Plowm’
trees, probably bullaces (a type of wild plum),
to the treasurer of James IV in 1503.

The height of Culross’s prosperity was
reached during the life of George Bruce, a
descendant of King Robert the Bruce, who took
over Culross colliery in 1575. In 1597 Bruce
built himself the fine new house that became
known as ‘the Palace’. The building was further
extended in 1611, the year in which Bruce
was knighted by King James VI. It is uncertain
whether Sir George Bruce ever had a garden
of any ornamental merit at the rear of his
house. It is more likely that it was a kitchen
garden or kale-yard with a tethered pig and
hens to support the needs of his household, but
there is no archival evidence to support this.

The new raised beds at Culross Palace

Over the years, Culross gradually declined
with coal-mining and salt-panning dying
out by the early 19th century. Changes to
Culross Palace’s garden were not recorded
again until 1887. In their book, Castellated
and Domestic Architecture of Scotland,
MacGibbon and Ross described the palace
in great detail and recorded that the garden
‘forms a sort of hanging garden with several
terraces commanding a fine view over the
Firth of Forth and the country beyond’.

Between 1932 and 1991 the palace
garden was developed by Historic Scotland
with a simple layout containing conifers,
herbaceous perennials, wall shrubs and fruit
trees. Following the trust’s reacquisition of
the property in 1991, a conservation plan
was produced analysing known historical
documentation including maps, drawings
and photographs. A proposal was then
developed for the future management and
presentation of the garden. Despite the lack
of archival material about Scottish gardens of
the early 17th century in general and Culross
Palace in particular, NTS felt that this was a
sufficiently important site and as likely as any
to represent the change from the horticulture
of the regal or monastic institutions of
the 16th century to the more ornamental
horticulture being introduced by the
developing middle class in the 17th century.
To that end, a model 17th-century garden
was created on the terraced slope behind the
palace under the direction of the author.

During the course of 1993, the garden
was transformed from an unremarkable
20th-century layout to a decorative yet
productive garden reflecting the style of early
17th century gardens. A series of eight raised
plots with interconnecting paths dressed in
crushed mussel and cockle shells was created
to support a wide range of period vegetables
including onions, peas, beans, skirret, kale,
scorzonera and salsify. However, most of the
vegetables currently grown are the oldest
varieties still commercially available, some of
which are sourced through Garden Organic’s
Heritage Seed Library. A covered walkway
supporting Vitis vinifera ‘Ciotat’ (a variety
of the common grape vine) and mulberries
separates the main productive garden from a
small orchard of old Scottish fruit varieties and
a collection of rare Scots dumpy hens. To assist
with the planting palette, reference was made
to John Gerard’s The Herball or Generall Historie
of Plantes (1597) and the detailed inventory of
plants grown by Charles de l’Ecluse (Clusius)
at the University of Leiden in 1593-1594.

Since its reincarnation in 1993-1994, the
garden has continued to evolve based on a
developing understanding of 17th-century
horticulture and garden design, with an
even greater emphasis on period features.
These include trellis fencing, bowers, covered
seats, basket planters and historic tools.

FYVIE CASTLE

The trust embarked on another significant
garden makeover in 1997 to increase the
horticultural interest of the empty two-acre
walled garden close to the renaissance palace
frontage of Fyvie Castle in Aberdeenshire.

Fyvie Castle from the south west

Fyvie Castle was built on a hillside
overlooking the waters of the River Ythan
and dates back to 1395 when Sir Henry
Preston built the first castle on the site of a
royal hunting lodge. During the 16th century
Fyvie was described ‘as a splendid palace’ and
probably had an enclosed garden. Whatever
grounds there may have been before 1644 they
were almost certainly destroyed in the battle
fought at Fyvie between the Duke of Montrose
and the Covenanters. The Hon William
Gordon inherited Fyvie estate in the early
18th century and in 1770 he began extensive
improvements to the castle and grounds,
which continued for the next 20 years. An
estate plan of 1822 shows the improvements
made by William Gordon and his son, which
included the walled gardens (built in 1777),
the large Fyvie Loch (designed by Robert
Robinson and later improved by James
Giles), the sinuous driveway, and extensive
parkland, woodlands and formal gardens.

The walled kitchen gardens comprised
three sections, all of which survive today
although their uses have changed. In the
1822 plan, the area was divided into the Ball
Green, containing the oldest fig house in
Scotland; Rhymers How or Haugh Garden,
growing mainly fruit – mulberries, peaches,
nectarines and grapes; and the Garden, used
as a shrubbery.

A magnificent glasshouse
range was added to the kitchen garden layout
in the late 19th century but little remained
of the once spectacular structure at the time
of the trust’s acquisition of the site in 1984.
Vegetable and fruit growing continued until
World War II when there were eight gardeners,
three of whom worked in the glasshouses.
In the latter years of the 20th century the
garden’s fortunes declined and the areas
were grassed over for easy maintenance.

Careful consideration was given to
finding a sustainable use for the two-acre
walled garden that would complement the
property, improve the site’s horticultural focus
and enhance the visitor experience. With
its long tradition of fruit-growing it was felt
that the garden at Fyvie should be developed
in a way that would reflect its former glory.
After many months of careful research and
planning it was agreed that a garden of Scottish
fruits should be developed to demonstrate
both the conservation of rare, unusual and
modern Scottish fruits and the craft skills
involved in their cultivation and maintenance.
Through the generous financial support of
the Garfield Weston Foundation and the
trust’s Great Gardens Appeal, the walled
garden development began to take shape.

The Garden of Scottish Fruits in summer 2009

Above left: The drawing room ceiling at Fyvie Castle was the
inspiration for the design of the central parterre in the
Garden of Scottish Fruits. Above right: Fyvie Castle Garden of Scottish Fruits site interpretation

A design for the garden was developed
that took into account the soils, the local
microclimate, the physical limitations of
the site and the agreed philosophy for
the garden: to grow as wide a variety of
traditional and modern Scottish soft and
top fruits as possible displayed in a variety
of styles and complemented by a selection
of seasonally varied vegetables. The design
for the new garden was not influenced by
historical records, quite the contrary: the
former layout of the northern section of
the triple walled garden was unremarkable
and untypical of other gardens of its period.
Instead a new dynamic design was created,
influenced by the design motifs of the plaster
ceilings in the castle’s entrance hall and Lord
Leith’s drawing room, which overlooks (at a
distance) the walled garden. The geometric
designs were created on the ground using
6,500 granite ‘cassies’, or cobbles, which
form a series of beds. Interconnecting
paths link the east and west sides of the
garden with a central herb parterre.

The fruit plots accommodate a diverse
selection of well-trained Scottish raspberries,
blackcurrants, gooseberries, redcurrants and
white-currants and various hybrid berries.
These are complemented by the most
complete collection of Scottish apple trees in
Scotland including varieties such as ‘Bloody
Ploughman’, ‘Cardross Green’, ‘East Lothian
Pippin’, ‘Maggie Sinclair’ and ‘Threave Castle’,
grown on a variety of rootstocks and pruned
in a number of different ways. A small nutwood,
fan- and espalier-trained plum trees and
cordon- and espalier-trained Scottish pears,
including ‘Chalk’ and ‘Green Pear of Yair’, are
grown against the south and west facing walls.

In addition to maintaining the top-fruit
collection, the garden also supports a varied
selection of Scottish-developed vegetables
and includes some of the dozens of varieties
of potatoes that have been developed over
the past 100 years. These include ‘Duke of
York’, bred by William Sim of Fyvie in 1891,
a popular early potato with superb flavour
and texture, together with selections from the
Arran, Pentland and Dunbar potato groups as
well as some of the more modern varieties such
as ‘Brodick’ and ‘Brodie’ that were developed
during the 1990s. Other vegetables include
‘Balmoral’ and ‘Castlegrant’ cauliflowers,
‘Pentland Brig’ kale, ‘Musselburgh’ leeks,
‘Ailsa Craig’ onions and ‘Angus’ swede.
Today, the significance of Fyvie Castle’s
garden lies in its plant collection and in the
conservation of the heritage skill-set required
to maintain such an important fruit collection.

The systematic study and evaluation
of historic gardens has evolved a great deal
over the past 60 years. The approach taken
by the trust during this time has included
well-intentioned but sometimes misguided
actions. These are offset by many examples
of best conservation practice guided
by NTS’s own conservation principles
and those of international conservation
charters. In this underlying philosophy
the trust’s success is planted: it invigorates
all of our efforts to understand, interpret
and value the significance of Scotland’s
garden heritage and our determination
to ensure that it is accessible to all.

AMW Stirling, Fyvie Castle: Its Lairds and Their
Times, John Murray, London, 1928

Land Use Consultants, Inventory of Gardens and
Designed Landscapes in Scotland, Countryside
Commission for Scotland, Edinburgh, 1987

Historic Gardens, 2010

Author

ROBERT GRANT DipHort Edinburgh is the
National Trust for Scotland’s head of gardens
and designed landscapes. He is responsible
for the strategic and policy direction of
the trust’s 70 garden sites and designed
landscapes and has worked for the trust for
23 years as a gardens adviser and instructor
gardener.